Popcorn for dinner
Welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, I’m eating snack foods from dinner and recovering from medical mishaps. If you’re new, check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
Homemade popcorn with olive oil, sea salt, smoked paprika and nooch at my friend’s place
Make this at your place
I have a friend who recently moved to a high-rise in downtown Brooklyn. When I went to visit her, I discovered that she had nothing in her fridge except for a dozen bottles of kombucha. In her pantry there were no snacks aside from a single, giant plastic tub of popcorn kernels. It’d be too easy to make fun of her (which I did), but then we proceeded to make some popcorn and holy shit is homemade popcorn good. It’s so much better than any bagged popcorn and so fun to make making popcorn is my new hobby (sorry, roommates!). In fact, I’m planning to also replace all my pantry snacks with a single giant tub of corn kernels. To make it at home: Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a big steel or cast iron pot with a lid. When hot, add half a cup of corn kernels, cover, and shake continuously, until popping slows down and there are still a few kernels left. Take off heat, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt, smoked paprika, and nutritional yeast.
In the Air Tonight at Market Table
54 Carmine St, New York, NY 10014
The bar at Market Table, a farm-to-table restaurant with big windows and exposed brick and $$$ prices, is my favorite hidden gem in the West Village cocktail scene, namely because no one tends to drink there, preferring dinner instead. I’ve personally never ordered a single bite of food on the menu, but I’ve tried several of the cocktails and they were all fantastic. The In the Air Tonight has a great balance between peppery gin and peppercorns with tangy lemon and grapefruit. There’s also a sprig of rosemary, if you’re into that. I’m not sure what part of this elegant and peppery drink screams “Phil Collins,” but maybe the pun is flying over my head. Is it a wordplay on “Tom Collins,” which is also made out of gin? Do middle aged rocker men have a penchant for pink peppercorns? I guess I’ll never know, because I don’t really want the bartender to talk to me, but I’ll definitely keep ordering this drink.
Spiced chai concentrate at Trader Joe’s
Your neighborhood Trader Joe’s
Anyone who knows me knows that I adore super spicy things, and by that I don’t mean spicy like jalapeno or habanero (although I also like that), but rather ginger, cinnamon, and black pepper. That’s why I’m usually not a fan of ordering iced chai at cafes, because it simply isn’t spicy enough. I was skeptical of this chai concentrate from Trader Joe’s, but I tossed it into my basket because it was only $2.99, and I’m actually pleasantly surprised. I wish it was a little less sweet, because even mixed with unsweetened soy milk it’s too sweet for me, but it’s definitely spicy.
Fish ball pho at Ha Noi Vietnamese Kitchen
448 9th St, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Can somebody explain economic markets to me? Like, for example, why are there four pho restaurants within a three block radius in my corner of Brooklyn? And is this good for the pho market, because competition, or is it bad, because everyone loses? Asking for a friend who wants to increase the number of pho restaurants per block in all neighborhoods. Anyways, Ha Noi is usually my last choice pho restaurant because the noodles are one dollar more expensive than my usual spot, and if I’m going to eat Asian food, I’m sure as hell going to do it the Asian way. But they also have fish ball pho, and everyone who’s ever grown up eating hot pot knows that fish balls are magical. The broth was pretty standard fare, nothing to write home about, but there were a lot of veggies (in addition to bean sprouts) included which was a nice touch, and I’d gladly pay an extra dollar to get this again.
Sweet potato fries at the Soho Room
203 Spring St # C, New York, NY 10012
The Soho Room is all sweaty business bros in the front and questionably upholstered couches in the back, but it has a soft spot in my heart because they have an ADA reserved table, and once when it was pouring rain, a very nice waiter held an umbrella for me and my friend all the way to her Uber across the street. Anyways, the drinks are not very good but they are pretty cheap at happy hour. The food is pretty average bar food, reasonable prices and good portions, with the exception of the sweet potato fries, which I’m addicted to. Someone explain to me how certain bars and bodegas are able to produce fries that retain a squishy center but a shatteringly-crisp outside, almost like it’s coated with tempura flakes. Is it double-fried? Witchcraft? Curious minds want to know.